Netizen 24 CAN: Canadians in London eager to celebrate royal wedding

LONDONâ"Nicola Dayâs flight to London will land just hours before Prince Harry is set to wed Meghan Markle in a lavish ceremony at Windsor Castle, and sheâs determined to not let jet lag stand in the way of royal revelry.

The Kingston, Ont., resident expects to spend the first hours of her vacation searching for a place to watch Saturdayâs noon-hour spectacle with other fans of the couple.

Tourists queue to enter Windsor Castle in Windsor, west of London on Wednesda y, as preparations continue ahead of the forthcoming royal wedding.

âWeâll make an effort to find somewhere to watch it and be among the people,â Day says of plans sheâs making for herself and her husband.

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âThey really are historical events, these weddings are a big deal around the whole world â¦ Iâm all for celebrating this wedding.â

But the main reason theyâre heading to the United Kingdom is for a separate royal event altogether â" a garden party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the work of The Princeâ s Charities, which supports the philanthropy of Prince Charles.

Steve Day scored an invitation as a graduate of an entrepreneur program run by the groupâs Canadian chapter. The national program helps Canadian Armed Forces members transition to civilian life by offering education and resources to launch their own business.

Day is one of three Canadian graduates invited to the garden party May 22, which will also mark the 70th birthday year of the Prince of Wales. The princeâs actual birthday is Nov. 14.

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âItâs all in the private portion of Buckingham Palace that the public canât get access to, so thatâs why itâs kind of neat,â he says, musing on the possibility of other royals showing up.

âIt is a garden party for Charlesâ 70th birthday, so Iâd be very surprised if the entire royal family wasnât there.â

Word is that the newlyweds themselves may attend â" Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have reportedly chose n the celebration as their first official event as a married couple.

Steve Day says heâs a fan of the younger prince, who has focused much of his charity work on wounded veterans through his passion project, the Invictus Games.

âI feel an affinity with Prince Harry as a retired vet whoâs fought in Afghanistan. I like what heâs doing to support veterans,â says Day, who spent more than a year of cumulative duty in Afghanistan on multiple occasions between 2003 and 2011.

Before Tuesdayâs garden party, there are preparations to be made.

Nicola Day says sheâs watching online videos of past garden parties to nail down the protocol, and is fretting over her attire. Women are being asked to wear a day dress with an optional hat, or a uniform with no medal. Gentlemen are instructed to wear a morning coat, lounge suit or a uniform with no medal.

âMy friend said: â You should go to Ottawa or Toronto and look for a hat.â So I may just have to look when we actually get to London and Iâll probably spend a fortune. But I may just have to do it because it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.â

Nicola Day says the garden party will include high tea and a formal parade, in which the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will move through the guests.

As for the rest of their weeklong trip, the couple hopes to hit as many tourist hot spots as possible: Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey and the site of the wedding, Windsor Castle, about 80 minutes from London by car.

The town of Windsor has said it expects 100,000 visitors to head there to see the newlyweds travel in procession after the ceremony.

Travel experts expect the number of visitors to the U.K. will increase after the wedding, but some agents reported already seeing a spike in interest because of the nuptials, according to an informal survey by the tr avel group TLNetwork.ca.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the travel fare aggregator Expedia.ca says itâs seen a 175 per cent increase year-over-year in flight search data for travel to London over the wedding weekend.

Canadians appear to be among those searching for deals.

Charles Purdue Pulido of Strawberry Tours in London said heâs seen an increase in Canadian bookings for his agency, which offers tours including one focused on various monarchs throughout history. He says theyâve added a special early morning tour Saturday that will pass through the cityâs royal landmarks and conclude with a screening of the wedding at a pub in central London.

Visiting professor Christabelle Sethna says sheâll likely catch the festivities on television like most of the world, even though she happens to be in the U.K. for academic work until the end of May.

The Canadian credits wedding hype with giving her working trip a welcome celebratory boost, and canât he lp but find the royal coupleâs Hollywood love story enthralling.

In contrast, Sethna finds her British friends and work colleagues rather disinterested in the whole affair.

âIâm the most enthusiastic for many reasons,â says Sethna, a professor in the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa.

And as a former Torontonian, Sethna says she feels âstrangely connectedâ to Markle, who detailed her favourite Hogtown haunts and hobbies on social media while shooting her seven-season run on the TV series Suits.

âThe fact that Meghan Markle â¦ went to yoga classes and she went to juice bars and she had a big pack of girlfriends, I think many, many women can identify with her Toronto lifestyle,â says Sethna, who used to live in the same neighbourhood linked to Markle.

âOf course, Toronto wants to feel that itâs at the centre of everything, and being from Toronto I completely understand that feeling â¦ It go t to be the host for this relationship and I think thatâs wonderful. This is another feather in Torontoâs cap.â